Means for spacing articles on a conveyor

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a process and apparatus for conveying individual articles along a path which changes substantially vertically from one elevation to another and at a high speed where desired, and also receiving articles random spaced and moving them into a uniform spacing pattern so that they can be accurately fed into a further moving operation in a different direction without ever being stopped or having the relative travel positions of the articles changed.

United States Patent 13,589,497

[72] Inventor John M. Leach [56] R f n Cited P.O. Box 341, Belle Terre,Port Jefferson, UNITED STATES PATENTS l N i 929 3,184,039 5/l965Czarnecki .4 l98/l54 PP 0. Q 3,263,794 8/l966 Burton .l 198/34 [22]Filed Apr. l7, 1969 [45] Patented June 29 1971 3,373,860 3/1968 Lindgrenet al 193/34 Division ufSt'r. \0. 682.239. \m. 13. I967.Prim1o'E-wminer-Ev0n Blunk Pat. No, 3,481.449, Assistant ExaminerDouglas D. Watts ABSTRACT: The present invention provides a process and[54] MEANS FOR SPACING ARTICLES ON A apparatus for conveying individualarticles along a path which CONYEYOR changes substantially verticallyfrom one elevation to another 6 chumsg Drawmg Figs and at a high speedwhere desired, and also receiving articles [521 (1.8. CI..... 198/34random spaced and moving them into a uniform spacing pat- [51] Int. Cl865g 47/26 tern so that they can be accurately fed into a further moving[50] Field of Search 198/34, 76, operation in a different directionwithout ever being stopped 170 or having the relative travel positionsof the articles changed.

Such operations heretofore have involved moving the artil clessubstantially on a lever up to a vertical lift unit, stopping eacharticle momentarily until a carrying platform moves into alignment withit, then moving the stopped article onto the platform which moves it tothe top limit of the lift where it is moved of into further disposition.

This procedure is limited to relatively low operating speeds becausefast moving articles can not be stopped abruptly without damage tofragile contents and the time lost during the stop periods is great. Itis an object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatusfor conveying articles from a substantially horizontal to asubstantially vertical direction and vice versa without ever changingthe travel position of the articles and without ever decreasing thespeed of movement of the articles.

It is another object of the present invention'to provide a process andapparatus for bringing articles existing in series with random spacinginto a series having uniform minimum spacing by moving articles forwardand never retarding the movement of nor stopping any article. It is afurther object of the present invention to provide a process andapparatus capable of moving articles containing fragile contents, suchas cases of filled beer bottles, along paths which change abruptly fromhorizontal to vertical directions and vice versa at a high speed, forexample 60 and more cases per minute, consistently without breakage.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled inthe art by recourse to the following detailed description of the nowpreferred embodiments of the invention including the specification andthe drawings in which:

FIG. 1a is a fragmentary side elevational view of a left section of theconveying apparatus of the present invention:

FIG. 1b is a fragmentary side elevational view ofa right section of theconveying apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the articles spacing arranger:

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the plane indicated byline 3-3 of FIG. lb and looking in the direction of the arrows:

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially on the plane indicated byline 4-4 of FIG. 3 and looking in the direction of the arrows:

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the drive shaft of the apparatus:

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary detailed view showing the type of chain used toform the supports for the article carrying compartments:

FIG. 7 is a detailed view of oneof the article pushers, and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary detailed view of a modified form of chain andsupport capable of use in the present invention.

Throughout this specification and drawings all supporting structure andbearings which in and of themselves form no part of this invention havebeen omitted in order to more clearly disclose the actual invention.

The apparatus of the present invention comprises four chains 10, 12, 14and 16 of equal length, see FIGS. lb and 3, and supported in theconfigurations shown in FIG. lb suitable sprockets 18 each of which issuitably mounted on a stub shaft 20 in turn carried by a frame not shownand sprockets 22 carried by shafts 24 as shown in FIGS. 1b and 5. Itwill be understood that sprockets 18 are located behind those shown inFIG. 1 to support chains and 12. The shaft 24 located to the left inFIG. 1a and shown in FIG. 5 is also provided with drive sprockets 26 and28.

As will be noted in FIGS. 1b and 3 the chains 12 and 14 run inside ofchains 10 and 14 when all four chains are running side by side which isbetween the upper sprockets 22 and the lower left sprockets 18 in thedirection shown by the arrow. In all other areas the chain pairs 10-16and 12-14 are separated as shown.

Compartments 30 for supporting the articles being conveyed are shown inFIGS. 1b and 3. The compartments 30 are connected between the chainpairs 10-16 and 12-14 at desired intervals which are usually as closetogether as the size of the articles will permit and still allow foradequate clearances particularly at the entrance and exit points of thevertical conveyor.

Each compartment 30 comprises a crossbar 32 connected at its ends tochains 10 and 16 by clips 34 and a crossbar 36 connected at its endchains 12 and 114 by clips 38. Lengths of uniflex chain 40 are connectedbetween clips 42 and 44 carried by the crossbars 32 and 36,respectively. This chain is of known type and is so called because itwill flex freely in one direction, upwardly as shown in FIG. 4, but isrigid and will not flex in the opposite direction, downwardly as shownin FIG. 4. This type of chain can have many designs and the type usedherewith is to be considered as exemplary and not limitative. As shownin detail in FIG. 6 it consists of inner links 46 and outer links 48suitably connected by pivot pins 52. The outer links 48 are U-shaped incross section and have end sections 50 which extend beyond the link pins52 in each direction and provide stops which prevent any pivoting of theinner links 46 upwardly as shown in FIG. 6 but permit the inner links topivot freely downwardly which enable the chains 40 to turn freely aroundthe shafts 24, which it will be noted will be in the same direction forall three shafts 24, but will not flex downwardly while extendedhorizontally as shown in FIG. 1b and supporting articles. The shafts 24are provided with drums 54 of the proper diameter to guide the chains 40around the shafts 24 without sagging and causing undesired vibration.

Bars 56 which are preferably round in cross section are suitablyfastened between the outer links 48 of the two chains 40 to support thearticles.

At the high speeds at which this conveyor is capable of operating it isneither practical nor economical to attempt to place articles on thecompartments 30 by hand and the regularity of the supply from even onesource of articles can not be depended upon to present the articles intoposition to move onto the compartments 30 accurately and the regularityis even more undependable when articles are supplied from severalsources. For this reason, the conveyor is provided with an articlesupplier which moves articles onto the compartments 30 with absoluteaccuracy and without ever slowing down or stopping the forward movementof the articles.

The preferred form of article supplier is shown in FIGS. la and 2 ascomprising a pair of endless belts or strands preferably in the form ofsuitable chains 58 supported at the left-hand end by sprockets 60carried by an idler shaft 62 suitably mounted in suitable bearingscarried by a suitable frame not shown. The opposite ends of the chainruns are supported by sprockets 60 carried for rotation with a driveshaft 64 also suitably supported in bearings carried by the frame notshown. A driven sprocket 66 mounted for rotation with shaft 64 is drivenby a chain 68 from sprocket 28 shown in FIG. 5. Sprocket 26 is driven bychain 70 from sprocket 72 mounted on counter shaft 76 which is alsomounted in suitable bearings carried by a frame not shown. The shaft 76is provided with a sprocket 74 which is driven from any desired powersource not shown.

The two chain runs 58 form a conveyor which receive articles A from anydesired source or sources by means of any suitable type of conveyor 78driven at a definite desired speed which will be controlled in knownmanner by the size of the articles and the number of articles presentedto the conveyor 78 per minute. The articles move onto chains 58preferably across idler rollers 80 suitably supported from the frame notshown.

In a normal operation the articles A will come off of the conveyor 78with very uneven spacing, varying from articles in contact to a numberof feet between them during certain operating periods on the articlesahead or upstream from the conveyor 78. Because it is essential thatthere be a minimum spacing between the articles A on chains 58, thesechains will always be driven at a higher rate of speed than the conveyor78 so that even when two or more articles A are in contact the passagefrom the slower moving conveyor 78 to the faster moving chains 58, asshown by A-l, will create a minimum open space between adjacent articlesto provide for access by the pushers to be described later to the rearvertical surfaces of said articles. The speed of the chains 58 isusually selected relative to the speed of the conveyor 78 so as toproduce a minimum space of approximately 4 inches between the articles.

For the purpose of clarification the individual sprocket teeth and chainlinks have not been shown in FIGS. la and 2 relative to the articlesupplier.

It is necessary that the articles A be formed into a definite spacingpattern as they move along on chains 58 in order that they willindividually coincide with the compartments 30 when they pass off of thechains 58 onto the compartments as shown by article A-2. ldler rollers82 will usually be placed at the point shown. Each of these idlers willbe formed of two selections with a space between them for the passage ofpushers to be described later.

It is not necessary that each anicle space in the pattern be occupied byan article but it is necessary that each article which does arrive atthe crossover point is in the proper position in the pattern to beproperly received by a compartment 30. To this end an endless strandsuch as, chain 84 is provided which is supported at the left-hand end ofits run by a sprocket 86 which is mounted for free rotation on the shaft62, and is supported at the opposite end of its run by a sprocket 88which is attached to a sprocket 90 so that both of the sprockets 88 and90 together rotate on shaft 64. These last two sprockets are rotated bya chain 92 which extends between sprocket 90 and a sprocket 94 mountedfor rotation with counter shaft 76.

The chains 84 has article pushers 96 suitably attached to it at desiredequal intervals, for example, as shown in FIG. 7 wherein the outsidelinks of the chain 84 are provided with at tachments 98. An arm 100 ispivoted at 110 on the attachments and rests at its lower end on a plate102 suitably attached to the outside links. A spring 104 rests at thebottom on a plate 106 also suitable attached to the outside links andpresses at its to against an ear 108 carried by the arm 100. A roller112 is pivoted at 114 for rotation freely on the arm 100.

The strength of spring 104 is selected so as to be just enough to keepthe bottom of arm 100 seated on the plate 102 and not enough to createany substantial pressure against the bottom of an article A so as toeven tend to raise the article.

A deflector plate or cam 116 is suitably positioned as shown so thateach pusher 96 will ride under the plate as shown at 96A and becompressed against spring 104 and be held down so that its roller 112can not contact an article A until the chain 84 at the point ofconnection with each pusher 96 has reached the horizontal part of itsrun as shown at 968. This prevents any pusher from coming in behind anarticle and thus contacting it out of its selected spacing relative tothe preceding pusher when measured on the horizontal. The distancebetween the leading edge of pusher rollers 112 must be approximatelyequal to the lengths of an article A plus the minimum distance of twoarticles. This will prevent any part of more than one article from lyingbetween two pushers so as to avoid one pusher from supplying twoarticles to one compartment 30, when there is room for only one.

The number of teeth on'the various drive sprockets are selected in knownmanner so that the speed of chain 84 exceeds the speed of chains 58 andthe horizontal length of these chains on the top run is selected so thatwhen a pusher roller 112 comes up under the left-hand edge of an articleso as to just miss picking up and pushing the article the roller 112will gradually move forward under that article as they both move alongand will pick up and push the next down stream article A if there is onein that position before the leading edge of the last named articlereaches contact with a compartment 30. This is occurring at pusher 96Cunder A-3 and pusher 96C will gradually move out ahead of article A-3which will be picked up and pushed by pusher 968. Since there is noarticle A for pusher 96C to push that space and its correspondingcompartment will remain empty.

It can thus be seen that with these relationships between the length ofthe top run of chains 58, the distance between pushers 96, the relativespeeds of chains 58 and 84 and the length of the given article A, thearticles will always be placed in the proper space pattern for accuratepresentation of each article to it compartment 30. To this end, thenumber of teeth on the various drive sprockets will also be selected inknown manner so that the spaces between pushers 96 and the lengths ofthe compartments 30 will be synchronized in travel so that a spacebetween pushers will always coincide with a compartment so that anarticle A will always be smoothly received from a space between pushersonto a compartment.

In order that the movement transition ofeach article A from thehorizontal direction into the vertical direction can be performedsmoothly and with the exertion of no extreme forces on the articlecontents and also avoid any change in the travel position of eacharticle A in changing direction from horizontal to vertical, or viceversa, the sprockets 18 have been positioned as shown so that the changeof movement direction both from horizontal to vertical as well as fromvertical back to horizontal is made gradually and thus gently instead ofsharply.

Whenever it is desired to eliminate all transition increments, the chainand sprockets which carrying the compartments 30 can be changed to anoversize roller chain 120 which is guided and supported in a channel 122which can be bent on any gradual radius desired as shown in FIG. 8.

The articles A pass from the vertical conveyor section to any desiredpoint as, for example, via a suitable conveyor 124.

It is to be understood that the direction of movement of the verticalsection can be reversed and the article supplier positioned to passarticles A to the top of the vertical unit which will then convey themdownwardly. It is to be understood that cartons, etc. of various sizescan be conveyed on a given unit as long as the lengths of the varioussize cartons are selected relative to any given distance between pushers96 so that there will be no attempt to collect more cartons between anytwo pushers than can be accommodated between them so that the cartonswill be received by each compartment 30 without substantial projectionover either end.

The foregoing is to be considered as descriptive and not limitativesince many changes and modifications can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit ofthe invention.

The invention having been described, what is claimed is:

1. A conveying system comprising an article conveyor, means for drivingsaid conveyor at a definite speed of movement, means for deliveringarticles to said conveyor with open spacings between them to provideaccess to the rear vertical surfaces thereof, an endless strand, meansmounting said strand for movement parallel to and in the same directionas the movement of said conveyor, means for driving said strand at ahigher speed of movement than said conveyor, a series of equallyspaced-apart space pattern forming article pushers carried by saidstrand in position to contact articles on said conveyor, each of saidarticle pushers comprising a spring biased depressible arm which will bedepressed when an arm comes in contact with an article on said conveyoron any contactable surface thereof except the rear vertical surface, andwill remain depressed until the arm moves out of contact with the slowermoving article at which time said arm will move into position to contactthe rear vertical surface of any uncontacted article immediately aheadof the article formerly contacted and move the said immediately aheadarticle at the speed of movement ofsaid endless strand and in the spacepattern formed by said pushers, and means for receiving space patternconformed articles from said conveyor.

5. A conveying system as specified in claim 1 in which the means forreceiving the uniformly spaced articles from said conveyor comprises aseries of article supporting and moving compartments, means forsupporting and moving said compartments gradually towards the vertical,ten vertically, then gradually towards the horizontal, thenhorizontally.

6. A conveying system as specified in claim 5 in which said compartmentswhile moving said articles remain constantly in relative parallelpositions.

1. A conveying system comprising an article conveyor, means for drivingsaid conveyor at a definite speed of movement, means for deliveringarticles to said conveyor with open spacings between them to provideaccess to the rear vertical surfaces thereof, an endless strand, meansmounting said strand for movement parallel to and in the same directionas the movement of said conveyor, means for driving said strand at ahigher speed of movement than said conveyor, a series of equallyspaced-apart space pattern forming article pushers carried by saidstrand in position to contact articles on said conveyor, each of saidarticle pushers comprising a spring biased depressible arm which will bedepressed when an arm comes in contact with an article on said conveyoron any contactable surface thereof except the rear vertical surface, andwill remain depressed until the arm moves out of contact with the slowermoving article at which time said arm will move into position to contactthe rear vertical surface of any uncontacted article immediately aheadof the article formerly contacted and move the said immediately aheadarticle at the speed of movement of said endless strand and in the spacepattern formed by said pushers, and means for receiving space patternconformed articles from said conveyor.
 2. A conveyor system as specifiedin claim 1 in which the article conveyor comprises at least two parallelmoving strands which support the articles.
 3. A conveyor system asspecified in claim 2 in which the moving strand is positioned betweenthe other strands.
 4. A conveying system as specified in claim 3 inwhich the spring biased arms are positioned so that each will bedepressed when a pusher comes up under an article on said strands andwill remain depressed until the pusher rides out from under and ahead ofsaid article.
 5. A conveying system as specified in claim 1 in which themeans for receiving the uniformly spaced articles from said conveyorcomprises a series of article supporting and moving compartments, meansfor supporting and moving said compartments gradually towards thevertical, ten vertically, then gradually towards the horizontal, thenhorizontally.
 6. A conveying system as specified in claim 5 in whichsaid compartments while moving said articles remain constantly inrelative parallel positions.